Potential hazards lead OSHA to cite Illinois company

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, has cited Lasley Construction Inc. for alleged willful and serious safety violations at the St. Francis Medical Center worksite in Cape Girardeau. Some $111,000 in penalties have been proposed.

In October, employees were observed walking on steel I-beams at heights of approximately 40 feet above the ground, according to an OSHA news release. After an investigation, OSHA issued citations for three alleged willful violations for employees working from the handrails of aerial lifts, working from aerial lifts without attaching personal fall arrest systems to the lift's anchor point, and employees working from the unprotected edge of steel beams and decking leading edges without fall protection systems.

The alleged serious violations included failure to have a program ensuring the proper use of personal protective equipment, or a full body harness, and overloading the man basket of an aerial lift. An additional alleged violation was issued for failure to use designated aerial lift anchor points when attaching personal fall arrest system harnesses.

The citations won't affect the project ongoing at St. Francis, said company owner Larry Lasley.

"It doesn't affect anybody but me," he said. "It's a railroad job by OSHA."

Probably headed to court

His company is headquartered in Anna, Ill., and employs about 30 workers. Lasley has 15 working days from receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to comply with them, to request and to participate in an informal conference with the OSHA area director, or to contest them before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Lasley said his insurance won't cover the fine.

"If I have to pay the fine, I'll pay the fine," he said. "I'll contest it and we'll probably go to court over it."

The firm has worked more than a quarter of a million man-hours with only one accident, Lasley said. "And that was when someone tripped and broke his finger."

Lasley was confident his company will recover from the allegations.

"It's just technicalities," he said. "We'll get it worked out."

Last year, OSHA conducted almost 23,000 inspections in the construction industry, an increase of 7 percent over 2002.

"Protecting employees from workplace hazards must be a top priority for all employers," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao in a news release. "The $111,000 significant penalty in this case demonstrates our commitment to protecting workers' health and safety."

Willful violations are those committed with intentional disregard of or plain indifference to the requirements of the OSH Act and regulations. Serious violations are those in which there is substantial probability of death or serious physical harm from hazards about which the employer knew or should have known. Other-than-serious violations have a direct relationship to job safety and health, but probably would not cause death or serious physical harm.

Staff writer Mike Wells contributed to this report.